Not convincing enough

In an ODI match that is supposed to last 100 overs, if a side rolls over its opponent in less than two thirds of the duration available, it can generally point to a convincing win. India shot Bangladesh out in 34.5 overs and then achieved the target in 30.4 overs, but still left the stadium not exactly shining with the invincible aura that they seemed to be set on aquiring after South Africa's tour to India in February 2010.

For one thing, in a match in which Bangladesh scored just 167, none of the three frontline seamers - Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan - went for less than 5 runs an over. With the World Cup just 8 months away, the form of these three will cause India several headaches. Since 2009, their economy rates make for a far-from-flattering reading, with Praveen Kumar conceding runs at 5.42 per over, Zaheer going at 5.63 per over, and Nehra leaking runs at 6.09 per over. The more worrisome aspect is that all these numbers are significantly above the career economy rates of any of the bowlers, which points to a stark difference in the pre-2009 and post-2009 performances.

India's showing in the field was redeemed, but the wrecker-in-chief was Virender Sehwag, a part-time bowler. Although Sehwag can be useful to plug in overs in the middle, he can hardly be expected to don the mantle of strike bowler regularly, and whenever he does turn in significant bowling performances, it must be looked at as a bonus, rather than the norm.

After promising a new dawn for Indian pacers, spin continues to remain India's traditional strength. However, it is instructive to note that no team has managed to sustain itself as a world-beater without a quality paceman.

The batting too was not without its wobbles, though the fact that Gautam Gambhir spent some time in the middle was probably the best thing that came out of the match. After a dream run, Gambhir had hit a rough patch of sorts, but the diminutive opener has the quality and the resilience to fight out the rough patch, and time in the middle is what will go a long way towards helping him regain his best touch. For all the various areas in which India could have dominated more, it still was a thumping win in absolute standards. The only question is, does the Indian team look ready enough to challenge Sri Lanka in their current form, or Pakistan - who showed that they can still put up a good fight with more than half the side under-performing.

In the endless stream of ODIs that India regularly play, the Asia Cup might not be such a significant event, but for a team that wants to mount a serious challenge in the 2011 World Cup, it is an important tournament. It pits the four teams who will be the most familiar with World Cup conditions against each other, and what is more, all four are at near full-strength, which means the team to emerge triumphant here, is likely to be ahead in terms of skill and preparation than the others.